It is always a welcome surprise to come across a film that somehow slipped under my radar but proves to be a completely absorbing and thought provoking experience. Rose Plays Julie (2019) from the filmmaking team of Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy might be a small scale independent film from Ireland but it is much more immersive and emotionally complex than just about any contemporary movie I’ve seen from a major Hollywood studio. It draws you in almost immediately with its depiction of Rose (Ann Skelly), a young veterinarian student, who is conducting her own private investigation into her birth origins. Although she was adopted at an early age, Rose is now determined to track down her birth mother Ellen (Orla Brady), even though the latter wanted to remain anonymous after giving birth, severing all future contact with her daughter. What begins as a psychological drama about a young woman with identity issues slowly transitions into a mystery thriller before veering off into something much more shocking and unexpected.